Beehive



i scription.

Patented Jan. 9, 1923.

r its.

WILLIAM J. rna'r rnn, or GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN.

nnnmvn a 1 Application filed March 16,1922. Serial No. 544,235.

To all whom it may concern: a

Be it known that I, VVIL'LIAM' J. PLA'rrnN,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Green Bay in thecounty of Brown and State of Wisconsin. have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Beehives, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact de- My invention'relates to improvements in bee hives, and itconsists in thecombinations, constructions, and arrangements herea indescribed and claimed.

An object of my invention to provide a bee hive of the characterdescribed which is constructed for use out-of-doorsin cold regions sothat a minimum loss of bees through freezing and starvation and aminimum con-. sumption of honey isbrought about. This an insulatingmaterial by proportioning the air passages to the amount of air neededby the bees in consuming thehoney and by the use of a moisturecondensation control arrangement.

A'further object of my invention is to a provide a bee hive of thecharacter'de scribed, in which the entrance may be varied, i. e. a smallentrance for the winter time and atlarge entrance for the summer.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of thecharacterdescribcd 1 Which is compact in form and the interior madereadily accessible, and which is relatively-cheap to'manufacture, easyto assemble, and compact for down.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the fOllOWlIlgspecification, and the novel 1 features of the invention will beparticu-.

larly pointedout in the appended claims.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, forming partof this. ap?

plication, in which a Figure 3 is a Figure 1 isa perspective viewofanembodiment of my invention showing the parts dissassocia-ted, a

Figure 2'is a; sectional view ofthe rear ventilating duct,

partial longitudinal section of thehive, and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of one off "the interchangeable entranceblocks. I

. for use in the winter.

shipping knockedranged to co-act with. the passages 8 or 9 of i .Abottom is In carrying out my invention, I make use of a bee hivecomprising a hive body 1 having four sides. The material oft-he body ispreferably solid pressed cork board or any other sultable insulatingmaterial.

An inher wall 2 lsdisposed within the wall 1 and cemented thereto by aninterposed layer of asphalt cement 3.

. Adjacent the lower edge of a side 41 of the hive body isa rectangularrecess 5. The re- 7 isu'emovably disposed. The entrance block 7isprovided with a passage 8 therethrough. In Figure 1., I have shown arelatlvely small passage 8,while in Figure 4:, I have shown another ofthe blocks 7 in which a relatlvely largepassage 9 is shown. This isaccomplished. by constructing the walls of large passage is for use inthe summer time and the block hELVHL the small passage 8 is The passages8 and 9 in the blocks 7 provide also an entrance for air in ventilatingL e j the hive. A. second ventllatlng duct is provided in the rear wall10 of the wall 1.. With with a groove 13 similar to thegroove 11, whichgroove is in registration with the groove 11 and the passage 14:communicat- .ing with the grooves 11 and 13. This structure provides aventilating duct. and is arthe block 7 to ventilate the hive.

v A cover 15of cork board or other suitable material is provided andarranged to rest upon the top of the hive body substantially as shown inFigure 3. The cover 15 is provided with a pair of transversely disposed.metallic strips 16 adjacent the forward and rear ends thereof. Aplurality of metal ribs 17 having their sides parallel to one anotherare mounted at each end upon the metallic strips 16. The ribs 17 arefashioned so that their under edges slope from the central portionsthereof downwardly, as they approach their ends. This is more clearlyshown in Figure 1.

provided and is also conwill cover the floor of the hive when the body 1is in place. The pan 19 is provided with grating 20 thereupon, whichgrating is composed of a plurality of non-metallic strips 21, bound inspaced apart relation to one another by transverse rods The purpose ofthis grating :20is to prevent the bees betted portions 25 of the endwalls. .The,

upon "the honey and upon the bees] This or with the "blocks 6 and 6additional.

from lighting upon the water which might becondensed in the pan 19. Theforward portion of the grating 20, as shown at 28, is

provided with a smooth floor so that the bees in entering through thepassages 8' of the entrance blocks Will not come into contact vviththesharp lip-turned edges of the. strips 21. This grating is non-metallicso'that no condensation will collect on it, but will drop through to themetal pan;

In Figure '3, I have shown a standard type of honey frame 24, which maybe supportedlongitudinally in the hive upon rabentire exterior of thehive is eoatedwith a eavy coating of asphalt cement so as-to waterproofthe hive. I From the foregoing description of the various parts of thedevice, the operation thereof may be readily understood. In thesumer-ti'me, my beehive is used just as any other bee hive using theblock 7* only, In the winter, when in use, the pan 19 is placed upon thebottom 18 and the block 7, having the small passage 8, is used inaddition to the blocks 726, a'nd6 to further restrict the opening.Furthermore, in the ordinary hive, condensation of moisture in the hivewill occur directly upon the bottom'surfaces of the hive cover and theWater will drip condition presents a severe disadvantage in .that thecomb becomes wet and moldy' In my construction, the moisture condensescollected in the upon the metal ribs 17 and is carried because of theinclined lower edges thereof and toward the ends of the frame 24: whereit drips into the pan 19. Water and frost p pan 19 is out of the way ofthebees; If 1 The use of solid cork board in thelconstruction of my hivegives a highinherent insulation fer the interior, that is, the heattransference per degree. of temperature dif;

ference between the inside and the outside, w ll be very slow comparedwith any of present single or double walled type of nves,

I temperatureof hive interior at which thees a e sem -dorm n e et HgJThe-bottom 18 is ar- 157 F. hasbeen determined as the lowest than this,the bees consume enough. honey to give them sufficient energy by rapidwing movement to increase the temperature again to 57. In my hive, theywill not have to eat as much honey because the heat is held inside andnot-radiated so freely as in the old style hives.

The siaebf the contracted entrance 8 and the rear ventilating duct wasdetermined by the amount of air needed by the bees in the consumptionoftwenty pounds of honey over a winter 'o'f'11'30 days, with a circulationslow enough so that there would be no craft effect. The use of corkboard construction gives a selfsupporting structure of the insulatingmaterial itself. I

I claim: i v' p 1. A bee hive of the character described comprising sidewalls of; heat insulating material, a plurality'of interchangeableentrance blocks adapted to fit an opening in one of said side walls,said blockshaving passages therethro'ugh of various-diameters, and aventilating passage of apredetermined diameter in the oppositeof saidside walls. '2. A bee hive of the character described comprising sidewalls,a co'ver,"a bottom wall, metal strips disposed longitudinally uponthe inner surface of said cover, said strips having their lower edgesinclined downwardly "adjacent the opposite ends thereof, and a metal pandisposed on the bottom Wall ofsaid beehive.

3,. A beehive of he character described comprising side walls, a cover,a bottom wall, metal strips disposed longitudinally upon theinnersurface of said cover,"said strips ihavingjtheir lower edgesinclined downwardly adjacent the opposite: ends thereof, a metal pandisposed on theb'ottom wall. of said bee hive, and a plurality ofinterchangeable entrance blocks, each having passage]therethrough ofadifferent predetermined diameter, said blocks adapted to fit an openingthrough one of saidside Walls. i f

4 A. bee hive of the character described comprising side walls, a"cover, a bottom wall, metal strips disposed longitudinally upon theinner surfaceof said cover, said strips having their lower edgesinclined downwardly adjacent the opposite] ends thereof, a metal pandisposedon the bottom wall of said bee hive, a pluralityofinterchangeable entranceblocl rs, eachhavi'ng a passage therethroughof a'l' different predetermined f diameter, said blocks adapted to fitan opening'through one of said sidewalls, and a ventilating assage of a"predetercomprising side walls, a cover, afbottom wall, metal stripsdisposed longitudinally upon the inner surface of saideover, said tofit; an opening through one of said side walls, a 'ventiletmg passage ofa predetermined diameter in the opposite of said side 10 Wells, andnon-metallic floor grating rest ing on said pan.

WILLIAM J. PLATTEN.

